Statistical Learning: Modeling, Prediction, and Computing

3 credits

Reviews optimization and convex optimization in its relation to statistics. Covers the basics of unconstrained and constrained convex optimization, basics of clustering and classification, entropy, KL divergence and exponential family models, duality, modern learning algorithms like boosting, support vector machines, and variational approximations in inference. Prerequisite: experience with programming in a high level language. Offered: W.